October 20, 2012

O Canada

Richard Ford's "Canada", a lesson in how to use a flat affectless style to imply pain, violence, distance, the inexorability of consequence, and what I'd call temporal or cultural immigration. It's writing that's so seductive in its mixed plainness and bright flashes that I can barely put it down; it stays in my mind long after I finish it. But having said all that, the Arthur Remlinger character never quite added up for me, but I'm guessing that's more than half the point.